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Monday, November 30, 2009

I was contacted by Dr. Glenda Corwin to take a portrait for her soon-to-be-published book about lesbian relationships. Glenda is a fantastic person who is instantly likable and a pleasure to talk to. We had a good time making her portrait.

I used Strobist techniques to make the portrait with small Canon flashes and Pocket Wizard remote triggers.

I was hired by a long time client to take photos of a special event seminar about Green Design that she was hosting in ADAC's presentation room. The seminar had many distinguished speakers from the interior design, architecture and scientific worlds and it was important to record this event.

When I arrived at the room, I noticed how dark it was. Their plan was to show slides as the speakers talked about their areas of expertise. Mary requested no flash so that the speakers would not be disturbed.

Luckily, I own the new Canon 5D Mark 2 which allowed me to boost my ISO to extremely high levels without noise in the final images. Along with a trusty monopod and controlled application of the shutter, I was able to pull the job off without a hitch.

My client was thrilled with the final photos of the seminar and the wine party in her shop afterwards, and she gave me a nice compliment: "I did not even notice you during the seminar, but you got the shots!"

At a party I went to over the summer, I met a very interesting man named Steve who was tattooed all over his body. The gathering was a cool event that attracted a unique collection of characters that could have come from a traveling circus. There were fire jugglers, trapeze artists and acrobats. Many people were in costumes. These people knew how to have fun and everyone was friendly. Steve and the others allowed me to shoot them as much as I wanted.

Later I contacted him to share the photos. This is when I found out that he is a professional photographer and videographer... and a very accomplished one at that. Needless to say, this made me nervous after the fact. I had unknowingly photographed a man who has been in the business longer than I have been alive. He shared some fascinating stories and insights with me, and I instantly liked him. You can see some of Steve Carmichael's photography here.

It has been a long time since I have ridden my motorcycles in the North Georgia mountains. A few weekends ago, I finally got back up there during a warmer than normal November day. It was a great escape with just me and my friend, Kris, running all of our old routes. Even though the mountains change, a good friendship never does, and it was nice to relive our glory days.

I was hired by a long time client at Graphic Works to shoot headshot portraits of 16 doctors in 3 different hospitals in the Atlanta area. Painstaking efforts were taken to ensure that all of the portraits looked like they were taken in the same studio on the same day, instead of 3 different times and locations. This was accomplished with a low-tech tape measure, pen and paper.

I really enjoy this kind of work because I get to meet a lot of different personalities in a short period of time. You can see this and other corporate photography at my new site promoting my corporate photography services... launching soon!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

During a father-son photo session in Piedmont Park, I wondered what the answer was to the age-old question of "where little kids get all of their energy?" Vincent is a 2 year old ball of unbridled lightning. This is the age when walking is really running and hugging is really tackling. Trying to get his photos involved running, spinning, tickling and lots of distractions. My friend Kris was laughing at me because I was sweating so much trying to keep up with his son. The kid was so fast, that I had to pre-focus on him to try to the shots.

My good friends, Jason and Amber wanted images for their holiday cards. We decided to meet in Piedmont Park right before sunset to grab a few shots with their Huskey named after Roscoe P. Coltrane (yes, the one from the Dukes of Hazzard.) If you look closely, you might be able to see Amber's baby bump starting to show. This family is about to get bigger!

I know that these fall leaves may look vibrant, but overall, the fall foliage in Atlanta seemed to be duller this year and spectacular specimens were harder to find. Colleagues have told me that lots of rain can do that to the colors.

I noticed that many of the leaves seemed to be more opaque and they blocked the sun's rays more. If the sun can't get through the leaves, the color will not show as vibrantly. I could be wrong, but that's what my eyes were seeing.

After years of looking at a a rarely used pool in our back yard, we decided to do something about it. Honestly, we loved everything about this place EXCEPT for the pool. We bought it anyway thinking that we would learn to love the luxury of a private pool. We were wrong.

The previous owners must have been nuts to build a pool in a shady forrest next to a swampy marsh or they must have liked icy water and mosquitoes. That was our experience.

We had the pool demolished in the rainiest fall on record, but it eventually got done. And now, when we look in the back yard, the pool is a faint memory. An added bonus is that the dogs actually like to do their "business" in our yard instead of leaving the neighbors tootsie roll treats.

I made time-lapse movies of the whole event compressing whole days into minutes. I think it is fascinating to watch this transformation and you may too. Enjoy the videos below.